"Parm" excites me like bathing in cold peas. Kubel may be past his prime, but he brings the kind of edge I think the team lacks. Hopefully he can regain his stroke to the tune of .260/20/60. Welcome back Kubes.

You aren't the only one. There just aren't many of us. Parm never had a chance to get into a rhythm as he was the odd man out every time. I want him playing every day, even if the odds of him being a good major leaguer are low.

I also want Parmelee playing everyday (in AAA.) If he takes the field for the Twins this year, it should be because he's earned it by dominating @ Rochester. I don't buy that he struggled because he only played 80% of the time. Parmelee had 531 PAs last year (333 @ MLB.) The team didn't leave him rotting on the bench.

With lefties Mauer and Arcia almost surely getting a lot of playing time and Doumit getting a nice paycheck, I always assumed that Parmelee was always going to be the odd lefty out, I figured he would be a longshot to be on the roster come opening day. I don't think it lessens his chances much just because Kubel is on board. Kubel can be sent to Rochester, Parmelee can't, Kubel will have to be great in spring training or Parmelee will have to be a train wreck for Kubel to make the team. If either of those things happen, well then there's really nothing to argue about, the best man won.

Regardless, I don't think Kubel will cut into Parmelee's playing time, because, I'm inclined to think if Kubel is at the MLB level with the Twins, Parmelee will be somewhere else.

Limited expectations so I won't be disappointed in him this time around. (Unlike last time.) He'll get his chance......at the very least he'll be more interesting to watch striking out than Clete Thomas was.

No excuses for a really bad year, but didn't I read that Kubel had a nagging injury last year? Hard to believe he nose dived so quickly in one season.

And hasn't Doumit stated he doesn't want to C any longer?

I am not in favor of Willingham playing the field on a full time basis. Nobody should be. And unless we plan on trading him early, I am very much against him playing OF just to keep trade value up. Just not good baseball sense. I think a lot depends on Hicks playing CF so Mastro and Presley can play LF. Arcia in right, of course, unless he struggles for some reason.

Absolutely love Kubel and see this as very much a low risk move. But I simply have to wonder where there is room for him anywhere if the roster is constructed properly?

Presley, Mastro or a cheap pick-up, Hicks, Arcia and Willingham DHing most days.

This is exactly the type of small move smart teams make every winter to add depth and options for a season.

If Kubel talkes ABs away from younger players, it will be due to injuries and/or because he's simply better. If Parmelee can't earn his PAs in THIS offense, I won't feel sorry for him, I'll just be glad the organization perhaps has another option.

Question: Is anything but pride keeping players from choking up or moving to a lighter bat as their bat slows? On a related note, if corking the bat to make the barrel lighter increases bat speed, what advantage is their to swinging a heavier and therefore slower bat?

[FONT=Helvetica]That can be either a very easy or very complicated answer. The easy one is just a breakdown of conservation of momentum…[/FONT]

[FONT=Helvetica]M1V1before + M2V2before = M1v1after + M2V2after[/FONT][FONT=Helvetica][/FONT][FONT=Helvetica]The kinetic energy and momentum are both conserved, assuming you don't break the bat and mess up my perfectly elastic problem… ain't nobody got time for that. [/FONT][FONT=Helvetica][/FONT][FONT=Helvetica]M1 = ball[/FONT][FONT=Helvetica]V1before = velocity of the ball before contact[/FONT][FONT=Helvetica]M2 = bat[/FONT][FONT=Helvetica]V2before = velocity of the bat before contact[/FONT][FONT=Helvetica]V2afters are then the velocity of both the ball and bat after contact[/FONT]

[FONT=Helvetica]The mass of the ball obviously doesn't change, and lets assume the velocity of the pitch doesn't either. If you decrease the mass of the bat, you then have to increase the velocity of the swing to balance the equation (and achieve the same force output). [/FONT][FONT=Helvetica][/FONT][FONT=Helvetica]Like diehardtwinsfan said, power. [/FONT]

[FONT=Helvetica]The 'very complicated' answer factors in the coefficient of restitution (takes into account the elasticity of the ball), the change in mechanical energy required on the part of a player to swing a heavier (or lighter) bat, and control of the bat (lighter bat = greater swing velocity = comparatively more time to commit to a swing). [/FONT][FONT=Helvetica][/FONT][FONT=Helvetica]It would have been really nice if that question was on my biomechanics final!

/hijack

I like Kubel, and like most have already stated, no risk/harm for now. Welcome back! [/FONT]

Kubel is only 1 year out from hitting .327/.506/.833 with 30 hrs, its not like he has been crap since he left the Twins. He had a very similar year to Willingham last season. Never got into a consistent groove from continual nagging injuries.

I view this as Willingham insurance while making Doumit & $3M his contract expendable.

This was just posted on MLB trade rumors"The Orioles discussed a big-league deal with Jason Kubel's agency, Wasserman Media Group, MASNsports.com's Roch Kubatko reports. Kubel ended up signing a minor-league deal with the Twins, however, and Kubatko suggests that's because Kubel is very confident he'll make the team in Minnesota"

Sounds like Kubel wanted a chance to play and felt this was a good spot for him. Nice to know he had choices. Also that he didn't feel it was necessary to sign a contract with guaranteed money. He has to feel that last year was just an aberration and that things will fall back into place if he gets in the right situation.

Kubel almost made the All-Star team and fell off pretty dramatically in the second half of '12. 2013 was a disaster and cost him big money. Yeah, he's probably in decline, but for the price of a minor league contract, it is worth seeing if he can "find it" again. Just two years ago, he was pretty good. I think anyone that has been above average in this decade has a chance to do it again in 2014. That would include Willingham, Diamond, Worley, and Plouffe, as well as Kubel and perhaps Doumit.

I am somewhat of a Parmelee fan. I think he's had a chance and has failed. He might have the good fortune of having one last chance. Both he and Worley looked kind of dumpy in the uniforms. Maybe he'll show up in great shape and win a spot.

Well, I think there's risk there, and yes, I think that is an indictment against Gardenhire. I don't think it means he's incompetent - it just means he has some weaknesses, and this seems to play on one of them. He also has his strengths, and overall, I think the strengths dwarf the weaknesses.

But this seems to play on a weakness, and I'd be happier if Kubel wasn't an option. I'm worried about Arcia and Parmelee's playing time. (And I recognize I might be the only one worried about Parmelee's playing time.)

I gave Parmelee playing time in MLB The Show 13 and he tore it up. Just throwing that tidbit out there.

This was just posted on MLB trade rumors"The Orioles discussed a big-league deal with Jason Kubel's agency, Wasserman Media Group, MASNsports.com's Roch Kubatko reports. Kubel ended up signing a minor-league deal with the Twins, however, and Kubatko suggests that's because Kubel is very confident he'll make the team in Minnesota"

Sounds like Kubel wanted a chance to play and felt this was a good spot for him. Nice to know he had choices. Also that he didn't feel it was necessary to sign a contract with guaranteed money. He has to feel that last year was just an aberration and that things will fall back into place if he gets in the right situation.

So he signed a minor league deal over a GUARANTEED major league deal because he "knows" he'll make the roster - in a much worse park? What am I missing here?